Going single
by daretokill
Summary: Buffy and her son moves to LA...
1. Going single

Going single  
  
The first time she came walking across the street, I pegged her for a whiner. Her shoulder drooped like she was carrying a goodly portion of the world's woes in a backpack, and from her expression, I could tell right off she that she didn't think it was fair. I had news for her: the master is rising.  
  
She came into the porch. "May I please use your phone?" "Long distance?" I said cautiously. "I need to call Mr. Giles. He was supposed to have the utilities turned in by today, but nothing's on. "  
  
I took a closer look. She was at most in her early twenties, with blond hair and a lovely face. Her eyes were sizzling with frustration, but her smile was friendly. Smiling back, I said, "You brought the house over there?"  
  
"I'm Buffy Summers. I signed the papers last week, and Mr. Giles promised to arrange for the utilities to be on when we got here. It's after nine o' clock .My son and I have been on the road for fourteen hours, and there's no way we can get by without water and electricity. I was just hoping that someone can still do something."  
  
"I'm Angelus O'Conner, but you can call me Angel. You can bring your son inside and let me give him a glass of juice .or you can call Mr. Giles if you want, but you are welcome to camp here.How old is your boy?"  
  
"Marcus's five. I guess it's too late to call Mr. Giles. He won't be able to do anything at this time of the night."  
  
I wasn't sure what to make of her as she bought in a listless child, rolled out a sleeping bag for him in a corner, and kissed him goodnight. "So you bought the Sticklemann's house?" I ask her as we sat down at the coffee table. She took a sip of coffee and nodded. "It seemed smart, even though my ex can't remember to send his child-support payments. I never finished my degree, so I decided to move back here to take classes .I was going to rent an apartment, but Mr. Giles explained how I could buy a house and build up equity. After three or four years it'll take to graduate, I can sell the house and make a small profit. Marcus's used to having a yard."  
  
"Do you have a job, Buffy?" "As a teacher's aide," she said with a shrug. "It's minimum wage, but the house payment's not too much than what I'd be paying in rent. Mr. Giles is financing the sale privately, since I probably couldn't have qualified for a loan. Even if I had,I'd have been charged closing costs of more than three thousand dollars. This way, I had to put down five percent, which leaves me enough to pay for the rental truck and utility deposits."  
  
"It'll work out," I said soothingly, although I had my own doubts. I made her a bed on the sofa, then sat and gazed out my bedroom window at the Sticklemann place, wondering how much Giles had told this nice young woman.  
  
Not nearly enough, I suspected. 


	2. Whole new side of him

I watched her from the safety of the porch the next morning. I would have liked to help her haul in suitcases and furniture, but my injured back wasn't up to it. Her boy did wad he could, trying to be the man of the family; finally, Xander from up the road took pity of her and carried boxes, mattresses, bed frames, and mismatched chairs inside the house. All the same, she did most of the work, and I could see she had spirit.  
  
Marcus proved to be a mannersome child, and he ended up most of the weekday afternoons with me, watching movies on the television. Buffy tried to pay me for looking after him. I refused, saying that he was no trouble. He wasn't.  
  
A month after she moved in, she came knocking on my front door. I could tell right off that she was upset, but I pretended not to notice and said, "You have time for coffee?"  
  
"What's the deal with the water lines?" she said, close to sputtering with outrage. "The toilet backed up and flooded the bathroom. The plumber says that al the houses out here have substandard pipes from the nineteen fifties, and there's nothing he can do short of replacing everything from the house to the main sewer line. Where am I going to find a thousand dollars?"  
  
I sat her down on the porch swing. "There are certain things Giles didn't tell you, Buffy. After he bought the house, he slapped new paint on it and put down new linoleum-but it's still an old house. Don't be surprised if the roof leaks when it rains. Mrs. Sticklemann had to put pots and pans in every room."  
  
Buffy stared at me. "What can I do? I called Mr. Giles but he reminded me that he recommended I pay for an inspection. It would have cost three hundred dollars. All I could hear him talking about were the possibilities for flowerbeds and a vegetable garden, and how Marcus could play in the creek."  
  
"Don't let him do that," I said. "Clover creek might sound charming, but it's downstream from a poultry plant. Some government people were here last spring, trying to figure out why all the fishes bellied up."  
  
"Anything else I should know?" she asked grimly. I hoped that she wasn't the sort to blame the messenger. There has been some trouble with the folks in the house up at the corner. A couple of months ago the cops raided it and arrested them for selling drugs. One is doing time in state prison, but two of them are back. That's why I walk up to where the school bus lets the children off in the afternoons. I've warned Marcus about them too."  
  
"Thanks Angel, I'd better go check the mailbox. Maybe this is the year I win the million-dollar sweep-stakes."  
  
We didn't talk for a long while after this, but only because she was busy with her job and her late afternoon classes. Marcus always keep a watch for her out the window, and as soon as her car pulled into the driveway, he'd say goodbye and dart across the road to help her carry in groceries.  
  
Buffy continued having problems with the house. When I asked Marcus about the exterminator's van, he said the carpet in his rooms had fleas and showed me welts on his legs. On another day, he told me that his mother had called Mr. Giles and then banged down the receiver and apologized for using "naughty" words.  
  
She had spirit alright, I thought. Too bad she didn't have common sense when she signed the papers in Giles's office. It wasn't hard to imagine how he'd conned her, though. He was a slick one behind his hearty laugh and grandfatherly face. He'd own half the houses along the road at one time or another. Most of the folks who had fallen into his "equity" pitch had discovered a whole new side of him when they fell behind on their payments. There was a reason why he drove a flashy Cadillac. 


	3. The stalker

"You are not going to believe this," Buffy said one evening while we watched Marcus play on a tire swing in the yard. "There are bats in the attic. I saw them streaming out from under an cupboard last night." She shuddered. " I called Giles, and he said the same thing, then gave me a lecture about how they eat insects. From the way he carried on, I thought I was expected to thank him for providing mosquito control. What if on gets downstairs?"  
  
Mrs. Sticklemann kept a tennis racket in the hall. I don't think she ever had to use it, though." "That's comforting," she said dryly. "I was waiting for you to say that she died of rabies." "Nothing like that," I said and stood up. Buffy gave me a look like she darn well I was tiptoeing around something, but she called to Marcus and they left. I felt bad for not telling her, but she had more than enough problems. Sometimes when you buy a lemon, you can squeeze it until your face turn blue, but you still can't make lemonade.  
  
Later that night when the phone rang, I answered it. "Angel," Buffy said abruptly, "go to your living room. Don't turn on the lights. There's a man out on the road, staring at my house. He's been out there for at least half an hour now. Should I call the police?"  
  
"Hold on." I put down the receiver and did what she'd asked, then came back and picked it up. " I see him, honey." I noticed my blunder and quickly covered it up. " You said he's been there half an hour?"  
  
"That's when I first noticed him. Could he be confused and think I'm our neighborhood drug dealer?" "No," I said, "That's not his problem. You can call the police if you want, Buffy, but I don't think it'll do much good."  
  
"Do you know who he is?" "Yes. I do. You come over tomorrow after you get home from work and I'll tell you about him. In the meantime, just ignore him. He'll get away before too long.  
  
"Who is he?" she demanded. " How do you know he'll go away? What if he breaks into the house?" "He won't come closer than he already is," I said. "You and Marcus are perfectly safe. I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
I hung up and went back to the window. The figure was still there, all slouched over with his hands in pocket, looking like a marble statue in the glow from the streetlight. I felt bad about making Buffy wait, but it was going to take a lot of time to explain it in such a way that she wouldn't get all panicky.  
  
"Damn him" I said from under my breath and threw the nearest vase towards the wall. It shattered into pieces, but was no help in soothing my anger. 


	4. Buffy's dream

Buffy's dream  
  
Riley, please." Buffy begged "Please, not in front of Marcus"  
  
"Bitch!" He shouted, and then struck her, making her fall to the ground.  
  
She was already in tears, now she was in sobs.  
  
"Riley, please, you're drunk..."  
  
"Get up." He said angrily, looking down at her.  
  
She stayed on the floor.  
  
"Get up you slut!" He grabbed her hair and pulled her up, throwing her against the wall.  
  
"Mommy!" Marcus called.  
  
"Marcus. go to your room and watch cartoons; turn the TV up as loud as you can. We're only playing... go on, everything is alright."  
  
After Marcus left, she turned to face Riley  
  
Riley pressed himself against her.  
  
"You really think you can leave me? Slut, that's all you are or ever were. A slut."  
  
Buffy pushed him off of her, and kicked him in a sensitive area.  
  
Riley recovered then punched her in the mouth.  
  
"You bitch! When will you learn, your strong, but I'm stronger!"  
  
Riley picked up his Whiskey bottle and began to drink from it. Buffy grabbed him and threw him against the wall; knocking him unconscious.  
  
Buffy ran into the bathroom, cleaned herself up, and changed her clothes.  
  
After she had covered most of the marks enough to say she was attacked by a vampire, she walked into her children's room.  
  
"Mommy!" Marcus called running into her arms.  
  
"See I told you, everything is fine, Mommy was only playing with Riley. Now come on help me pack your bag."  
  
"Okay." Marcus said as best as a five year old could.  
  
While Buffy packed she began to think of what to do. She was finally leaving him. However, she had nowhere to go. No one to turn to.  
  
"Come on Marcus." Buffy said walking out the door. "Wait Mommy! Mr. Gordo." Marcus went to the couch and got the stuffed pig.  
  
"Okay, let move!" Marcus said marching out of the apartments.  
  
It was dark outside, and Buffy looked around carefully. Living in Sunnydale, it was different, yeah there were demons and vampires, but it got worse in LA, she was more likely to be attacked in her home city.  
  
Buffy put Marcus in her jeep, then began to drive. Where she didn't know. She had no money, and no friends in the world. But right now it didn't matter. As long as she had Marcus, and was getting away from Riley everything would be all right. At least for a few short minutes... 


	5. Meeting with Riley

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own any characters remotely related to BTVS.  
  
The next morning at Angel's house  
  
"So, who's the person outside my house yesterday?" I asked. Angel sighed and point to somebody behind her. "Buffy." I froze. No way, it couldn't possibly be.I turned very slowly around. "Riley." He knelt down. "Hey big guy." Marcus buried his face in my leg. Riley stood and shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. "I'm bringing Marcus out to the playground." Angel said. With Angel and Marcus gone, Riley stared at me. "What are you up to?" "I still you know, I'm back at college, I'm working in.I'm working." "You must spend a fortune on babysitters." "Yeah." "You don't sound very convincing." "I want custody of my son." "Don't be stupid." "Buffy I tracked you down over the past few days. I know you have no money, a bad apartment, you're in debt and you work at Hooters. You leave my son alone when you're working and when you're slaying. You're not a good mother." "I'm trying it's hard. I had to start all over." "I want my son." "Impossible, because he's not your son." 


	6. Riley's meeting with Angel

******My team and I were tracking a new hostile in town; we followed it to the rooftops where we found it fighting against a civilian. The civilian was a pretty well built guy and he was holding his own, didn't seem at all phased by the fact that his opponent looked like he'd stepped out of a nightmare.  
  
I had my team split up and wait for a clear shot at the hostile. Our weapons are only designed to stun, but if we hit the wrong combatant the demon would probably kill the guy before we could get off another shot.  
  
Then all of a sudden the fight moves. Both the civilian and the hostile end up plowing right into me before I had a chance to react. The next thing I know I'm going over the side of the building. I remember thinking, "Oh God, I'm going to die!"  
  
Then there's this snap and I realized that the civilian managed to grab my arm as I went over. The snap is my shoulder popping out of the socket as my weight crashes onto the joint. I was sure that the other guy's arm was in a similar condition but he doesn't let me fall.  
  
Then the hostile attacked him. Its hands are huge claws and it rips them across my savior's side.  
  
And that's when my world gets turned upside down, cause when the hostile claws him, my savior's face shifts to that of a demon.  
  
I didn't know what to think; I just hung there staring into the demon's glowing yellow eyes.  
  
Meanwhile my team manages to get the hostile under control and my rescuer pulls me back onto the roof. He lets me go and asks if I'm all right and then disappeared into the night.  
  
Maybe I'll talk to Buffy, as unbelievable as it seems she's had a lot more experience with demons than I have. Maybe she can explain why one of those creatures would save a human life.  
  
******I couldn't talk to Buffy; she's in a panic. An old friend of hers was coming into town, only he never showed up.  
  
Better than most, Buffy knows what becomes of those who go missing in Sunnydale. I offered to have the Initiative keep an eye out for this guy, but if anything that upset her even more than she already was.  
  
Even with our secrets out in the open there's still so much I can't understand about Buffy. She's being so secretive about this guy, won't say where he's from, why he came, not even a name. I wonder if he's an old boyfriend?  
  
******I tried talking to Forrest about the new hostile, we designated him hostile 24, but it didn't bring me any peace of mind. Forrest doesn't want to risk thinking about the hostiles as anything other than dangerous animals. All he'll say is it was probably just a reflexive action, the hostile catching me like that.  
  
Forrest's wrong. Hostile 24 knew what it was doing when it saved me; it didn't even drop me when the other creature attached it. That wasn't reflex, it was purposeful action. He even asked if I were okay afterwards.  
  
I met and talked to Hostile 24 tonight. I needed answers and he was the only one I could truly get them from.  
  
His name is Angel; it's an ironic name for a demon. He's educated, well spoken, and I would never have dreamed he was a demon if I hadn't seen him without the human seeming. He told me he was different from other vampires because he'd been cursed with a soul. Hostiles I can deal with, they're just an exotic type of animal, but curses and lost souls aren't in the realm of science.  
  
I've never met anyone with Angel's certainty of what a soul is; I guess its absence would make things very clear.  
  
After talking to him I know that demons aren't just animals anymore, even if everything Angel said was a lie, he's still an intelligent, rational creature.  
  
Dr. Walsh and her associates have dissected living, well sort of live vampires. They turn to dust when they're killed; it was the only way to study them. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of being with human intelligence and memories being violated that way. I don't care if they are soulless or evil, how are we better?  
  
The pain inflicted on the beings here is sick and wrong. Buffy kills vampires to protect the human population from them. She fights a war against the darkness. I capture vampires so that beings who were once human can be subjected to cruel and painful tests. ****** 


End file.
